GoDaddy is trying to sell me my own domain names

While I was browsing through my GoDaddy account I saw a yellow frame reading:Godaddy NameMatch Recommended Auctions

I thought that GoDaddy is trying to sell me some domains. Nothing wrong with that. Then I had a closer look and the first domain in the list was actually mine. I remembered that I had used GoDaddy backorders to get the .org version of a .com domain I already owned for several years. All the others were similarly domains in other extensions of domains I already own and are in my GoDaddy account. This isn’t intuitive, is it?

Then I clicked on my .com domain to see what happens. Apparently my domain name is in auction and it has just 3 days and 16 hours left! Anyone that wants to make an offer must “Offer $500 or more”.

GoDaddy has deals with both Sedo and Afternic so that it can list domain names from their platforms to GoDaddy’s website and offer them for sale. I list the domain name in question in both Afternic and Sedo. Problem is that minimum offer for this domain is set at $1000 at Afternic and 10,000 Euro at Sedo.

Why does my domain appear to be in auction and why does it say “Offer $500 or more”?

Of course I didn’t try to make a bid on my domain to see if it will be accepted but it doesn’t look good.

I reached out to my Account Executive at GoDaddy to see why this is happening…

Update:
My Godaddy Account Executive told me that the domain is coming through afternic, so I had to follow up with Afternic.

I did and this is what I got from Afternic:

We are now listing all domains at Godaddy.com including unpriced domains.
The min offer was set by Godaddy.com at $500. When we get an offer we will request you price the domain.
This will give your unpriced domains a lot more exposure.
The $500 is for any unpriced domains.

It seems that the minimum offer price from Afternic isn’t being send to Godaddy. Only the buy it now price is send from Afternic. If the domain is unpriced then it shows up as in auction (that keeps restarting if the domain doesn’t sell) with a default minimum offer price of $500.

Update #2:
Afternic informed me that you opt out of the Afternic-Godaddy deal and Afternic will stop displaying your domains at Godaddy. I will have to think about this…

About Konstantinos Zournas

Konstantinos studied Computer Engineering and Computer Science in London and lives in Athens, Greece. He loves domains and building websites. He is online since 1995, learned about html in 1996 and got into domains in 2002. He started the OnlineDomain.com blog in 2012.